A dance to the heart
by Eristoff-icE
Summary: Harry is up to something and doesn't want Hermione to know about it. What happens when she catches him red handed? HHr
1. More space?

**Hello there! It is I, back with another story... It's gotten into my head, and I couldn't get it out until I wrote it. It's not nearly finished, but I decided to let in a peak. Hope you like it... Review and make my day!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize as being part of the Harry Potter Universe is mine, otherwise I'd be writing the real Harry Potter series instead of fanfiction.**

* * *

Lunch time.

For some Hogwarts students it was a time to recharge batteries for the afternoon classes, for others it was time to put the gossip in order, and there were even a few who had fun playing with the food. This day, however, lunch wasn't being the same fun as it usually was for Harry Potter. He didn't pay attention to Ron, who was sitting at his side and discussing some important issues with Seamus, like which team in France had the best keeper or who was going to win the Irish Quidditch League, nor did he pay attention to Ginny's chat with Dean about how much money a professional Healer made every year. And he couldn't afford to look at Hermione Granger. She would know something was wrong with him.

Definitely, this was not being the best lunch for the Boy-Who-Lived. It wasn't the roast beef, the pumpkin juice or even the Yorkshire pudding. Minutes passed agonizingly slow…

Harry took a peek at his watch and, as he looked up again, he caught someone getting up. He recognized the person as being Hannah Abbot leaving the Hufflepuff table.

He checked with his watch again. It was almost half past noon. Making his best to look a bit ill, which wasn't hard, he started counting the seconds inwardly, one by one.

One minute left…

Fifty-nine seconds left…

Fifty-eight seconds left…

…

Forty-three seconds left ------

"Harry?"

Harry looked up to see Hermione, who was sitting right in front of him, wearing a concerned look. "Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"Well…" he mumbled. Harry tried to think of something to say. He couldn't tell the truth to her but had to give her a good reason for what he'd do. _Think! THINK!_

"You don't look too good" she said, reaching across the table with her right hand and cupping Harry's left cheek, slowly rubbing her thumb in comforting circles.

Harry closed his eyes for a moment, appreciating her feather touch but, just when he was starting to reel in the feeling, he remembered what he had to do. He took Hermione's hand in his and kissed it gently. "I think I have a headache…" he wrinkled his nose and sighed, placing his free hand on his forehead "I think I'm going upstairs and rest for a while…"

Hermione still looked concerned but agreed with a silent nod and a smile. Harry didn't have as much nightmares as last year due to his progress with Occlumency, but his scar bothered him almost every day. Hermione was getting used to it, and her concern over it was slowly fading to a safe minimum. Sixth year was almost ending and she had been with Harry almost every evening, when his scar usually hurt, comforting him, easing the pain away, letting him know she would never leave his side.

She gazed into the space where Harry had been just moments before, with a slight hint of disappointment in her expression. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to hug him and rock him gently, whispering soothing words in his ear as he hugged her back and held her close to him, making both of them feel safe and complete.

_Oh well, seems like I just have to wait until after class…_ she thought. Oh, how she felt like skipping class and run directly to his dorm and hold him close to her!

But she couldn't. She had classes to attend to, and boyfriend or no boyfriend, her teachers wouldn't agree with that kind of behaviour. Harry was safe inside Hogwarts, and he had all the school staff nearby in case he needed anything. He had a reason to skip classes, she didn't. _You'll see him tonight, don't worry._

She smiled at her own thoughts and resumed eating her meal, not the least interested in Seamus and Ron's discussion about which team had the better odds of signing Antonio Silva, one of the beaters from the Portuguese National Team when the season ended.

Harry stepped out of the Great Hall and looked back. Hermione wasn't looking at him. _Great! Excellent thinking, Harry old chap! _Instead of turning to the staircase that led to the Gryffindor tower, he drifted off in the opposite direction. He walked to a deserted classroom and silently closed the door behind him. Hannah was there waiting for him.

"Perfect" he said, smiling broadly.

"Did Hermione see you coming here?"

"No. She thinks I went upstairs to get some rest."

Hannah raised an eyebrow. "Get some rest?"

Harry only raised a hand to his forehead and showed his scar.

Hannah's eyebrow descended to its original position. "Well, guess that will do. Wouldn't like to have her catching us alone in here…"

"Don't worry, she won't" Harry said, more hoping than anything.

"For the sake of both of us, you better be right."

After a moment's worth of awkward silence, both of them imagining the terrible consequences they'd suffer if Hermione suddenly bumped into them inside a deserted classroom, Harry decided to shrug it off and get on with what they had to do. "So, how's it going to be?"

Hannah frowned. "What do you mean, how?"

Harry opened his mouth but it took him a few moments to get his answer out. "You know, how we're going to… do it" he said, finding his shoelaces very interesting all of a sudden.

"You leave the how to me. The question is, when do we do it?"

"OK… _when_ do we do it?"

She shrugged. "You're the one who's supposed to know that."

Harry sighed in exasperation. "It's not very easy to get away from Hermione without being suspicious."

"But you're the one who spends more time with her. You're the one who has to know when we can do it. I'm available almost all of the time, so this is your call."

Harry thought for a few seconds… "Alright. I think I have a plan."

He moved close to her, whispering in her ear. This time, both her eyebrows shot up. "Tonight? How?"

* * *

The day passed quickly and soon it was time for supper. Hermione had gone up to the boys dorm to check on Harry just before her afternoon classes, finding him immersed in a peaceful slumber, which gave her a warm feeling that made her company during the whole time. People were used to see her smile a lot since Harry had finally confessed his love for her five months ago and asked her to be his girlfriend – a request she immediately accepted – so her happy and peaceful mood didn't really surprise anyone anymore. 

She closed the book she had been reading for the last two days, _'How to Transform Rusty Nails Into Useful Things – The Diary of a Survivor in the Deserts of the Middle-East'_, and went to place it inside her trunk, upstairs in her dorm. When she came down she asked Ron to check on Harry.

Ron came down after a few moments. "Still sleeping like a rock."

Hermione sighed with disappointment. _Oh well, I'll see him after supper… At least he's sleeping soundly, and that's good. He hasn't been sleeping well very often ever since Sirius died… _"Well, come on then, Ron. Let's grab something to eat."

Ron nodded his approval and raced Hermoine to the Great Hall. Just as they disappeared through the portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry slowly descended the stairs to the common room and looked around.

No one in sight.

"Good" he muttered under his breath. He knew that either Ron or Hermione would check on him and when they'd see him sleeping without the traces of a nightmare they'd leave him that way. His plan was working.

He hurried to the portrait and swung it open, finding Hannah waiting for him just outside. She jumped in and he closed the portrait after them. He walked her to the center of the common room, where there was more space for them. Hannah looked around, slightly in awe, being the first time inside the Gryffindor common room. It was very different from her own, downstairs in the Hufflepuff quarters. Harry coughed slightly, braking her off her reverie.

She smiled at him. "The room's perfect, but we need more space."

Harry looked around. "More space?"

They had nothing but the carpet on the floor in a ten foot radius.

"If we're going to do it properly, we need more space" she said simply.

Harry sighed and took it upon himself to levitate things out of their position, until both of them had nothing to bump into in a twenty foot radius. "Does this tickle your fancy now, your highness?"

"Yes." She smiled and walked to him, snaking an arm around his waist, standing very close to him as to feel his breath on her face. "Let's get on with this."


	2. Practising levitation

**And voila, here it is. Mysecond update on this story is now officially done. More to come soon, hopefully:)**

**tawnyfawn: Thank you for reviewing! You'll have to wait and see...**

**emgurl: lol thanks for reviewing!**

**JayC-WCHS: Hope this wasn't too long a wait, although the story is far from over. Well, not _that_ far, but you get the point.**

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**browneyedgoddess: Here you are, another chapter for your consolation! Hope you like it!**

**The Gryffindor Drummer: You are suspicious, yet you don't know what's going on... Are you right? Are you wrong? Who knows? (I do, hehehe) Keep coming and you'll find out :)**

**Tammy Tamborine: lol, wait and see, wait and see... Thanks for reviewing!**

**Now, on to the second chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Are you done yet?" asked Hermione, sighing. 

Ron shoved one more slice of pumpkin pie onto his plate. "Just one more. I promise."

Hermione chuckled. "Ron, I'm sorry to announce that you've officialy crossed the line between eating like a little beast and devouring like a dragon." she said, slightly amused to see her best friend sweeping his plate clean in less than a heartbeat.

"Aaaah… now that's better…" he said, relaxing after his eighth slice of pie, massaging his stomach in a lazy way.

Hermione snickered.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked, not really caring at all about the answer.

"Nothing" she answered. "It's just that you seem like you're preparing yourself to hibernate all through the next two or three years."

He just shrugged. "A man needs to eat."

"Alright, let's get going. We still have work to do" Hermione said, getting up from her place at the Gryffindor table.

"You mean, _I_ still have work to do, while _you_ just knit scarves…" he replied bitterly, having a little trouble getting up straight.

Hermione chose to ignore his comment.

They went upstairs towards the Gryffindor Tower, Hermione jogging lightly and Ron crawling as best as he could with almost a week's worth of food inside his stomach.

Halfway up the steps they saw Hannah Abbot coming the opposite direction, down the stairs from the Tower.

"Hi, Hannah" Ron said casually, crawling another step.

Hannah didn't seem to have noticed them before Ron spoke and, startled, she jumped in surprise and almost fell down the remaining steps towards the Great Hall. Fortunately, Hermione caught her by her cloak before any harm was done.

"Thank you" Hannah said. She was panting, her hair was a bit messy and her cheeks were very red. If it was from recent intensive physical activity or from being suddenly too close to falling down the staircase and paying Madam Pomfrey a visit with a few broken bones, Hermione didn't know.

"You're welcome" replied Hermione, letting go of Hannah's cloak. "I'm sorry if we scared you."

Hannah mumbled something incoherent while shaking her head and forcing a smile. She ran down the remaining stairs and disappeared towards the Hufflepuff quarters.

Hermione and Ron resumed their climb towards the Gryffindor Tower, but moments later Hermione stopped short.

"What?" asked Ron, seeing Hermione frown. She was thinking.

"Something's not right here" she said.

"There's always something -----"

"Why would she be walking down _these_ stairs?" Hermione frowned even more, not listening to Ron. "They only lead to our Tower."

"Hermione, the stairs are always moving" explained Ron, wondering if she had suddenly suffered from amnesia. Maybe Seamus put something in her drink. He was acting quite odd lately…

Hermione gave him one of her '_Don't-you-think-I-know-that-?_' looks. "I know the stairs are always moving, Ron." She resumed her frowning and thinking process. "But at this present time _these_ stairs lead to our Tower, so she could have only descended from there."

Ron rolled his eyes. "So what, if she came down from -----"

"She's a Hufflepuff, Ron" Hermione interrupted, looking at him in a McGonagall kind of way. Honestly, the boy could be so slow at times! She wondered if she'd lose her temper and wack him with a club some day.

Ron had to give her credit this time. "What's a Hufflepuff doing in our Tower?"

Hermione looked up at the ceiling and silently thanked Merlin for Ron's sudden realization. "That's what I'm trying to find out" she said, looking back down at her friend.

"Maybe she got lost?" he wondered.

Hermione didn't seem convinced. "Hmm… I don't think so… I believe she's up to something" she said, biting her lower lip.

"Good lord, Hermione, you think too much." Ron resumed his crawling up the way to the Gryffindor Tower, shaking his head in disapproval for Hermione's overly active mind.

* * *

"_Raging Penguins_" Ron said to the Fat Lady, who swung the portrait open. 

He walked inside and stopped short at what his eyes saw. Hermione, who was just two steps behind him, couldn't stop or dodge on time and crashed onto him, almost making them tumble to the ground. Another large noise was heard.

"Ron, why did you -----" Hermione didn't finish her sentence as she too saw what was going on inside the Gryffindor common room.

In front of them, Harry Potter was lying on the ground, scratching his head. A couch was beside him, turned upside down. Around him, most of the common room seemed like a war scenario, with tables, chairs and couches lying against the walls in a rather unfashionable way.

"What in the name of Honeydukes were you doing, mate?" asked Ron, with his mouth agape.

"Uhm…" Harry tried to find an excuse, but didn't need much time to think of one. "I was just exercising my levitation skills…" He tried on an innocent smile.

"Oh, I see…" Ron seemed to ease.

Hermione, on the other hand, didn't look too pleased. "Explain" she demanded in her most authoritary voice.

Ron excused himself from the scene and went as fast as he could without running towards his dorm, all the while mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "He's fried meat".

Harry got up on his feet and walked towards his girlfriend, who had her arms crossed and a '_I-demand-explanations_' look on her face.

"Hermione… I swear, I was just practising my levitation skills" he said, hoping he sounded convincing. _Puppy dog eyes. Yes, that's it! Puppy dog eyes and a cute pout!_ He did his best to look like an abandoned bambi.

"As far as I remember, you've never felt the need to practise them before" she said, fighting hard to keep her cold stare and her angry, commanding voice. _Oh, that look! He knows I can't resist it! Must… fight… bambi… eyes… sweet… cute… pouty… lips… beautiful…………_

Harry smiled as he witnessed the transformation of Hermione's face from an angry, stern and demanding expression to one of warmth, lazyness and exhaustion. "That's my girl…" He proceeded to kiss her forehead and hold her as she burried her head on his chest, pulling him closer by his waist.

No words were necessary. Well, at least until a group of fourth years entered the common room and stopped short at the sight of the place all turned upside down.

"I'll fix this" Harry said, and proceeded to put the room back to its normal state.

Meanwhile, a small croud had gathered, watching him put the room back as how they remembered it. All of them were eager to know what had happened, but Harry was in no way going to explain everything. Looking at all the anxious faces waiting for a juicy story, he thought of something to tell them. If it included complicated names or chaos and destruction, they'd all buy it.

Unfortunately for him, he chose to speak of total mayhem.

Putting a smile on his face and taking a very natural pose, he spoke up. "Well, it just so happens that the… errr… uhm… the- the Weasley twins decided to pay a visit to our good ol' common room."

Harry slapped himself mentally with a large and smelly trout as soon as he realized what he had just said. _Great idea, Potter! Why did you have to mention THE Weasley twins? Great going, genius. Now how are you going to get yourself out of this?_

At the mention of the heroes of last year's events everyone bombarded him with questions, all at the same time, turning the quiet common room into a large press conference.

Harry massaged his temples. Everyone talking at the same time asking "How?", "When?", "Why?", "How come?" and things alike made even his nightmares seem like a tranquil walk in the park.

"Okay, everyone, that's enough!" yelled a commanding voice.

All noise immediately ceased to exist. The decibels were now at a tomb's level.

Hermione could have smoke coming out of her ears the way she looked mad. "Things are back to normal! What happened here is none of your business, so go back to your own lives and stop bugging around! And no more questions!"

Her orders were complied at once with no complaints. Everyone knew Hermione meant business and no one was willing to try her limits.

Harry sighed in relief as everyone around him turned back to their own lives, but as he saw Hermione staring at him with a cross expression his relief quickly turned into fear for his own personal safety. Choosing not to try the puppy dog eyes approach again, he put on a serious face as well and stared back.

This seemed to make Hermione's apparent wishes to preech him about his little show to vanish, but she still looked serious.

They gazed at each other for a few seconds, until Harry found the silence unbearable. "Look, I didn't ask for the attention…"

"You should have thought of that before you started making things fly around at this time of night" she replied. "Honestly, Harry, you couldn't have picked a worse time _and_ place to do this."

Harry was about to reply but she spoke up again.

"And I thought you were sleeping."

Harry now looked at her with fear slowly starting to creep in. "I _was_. I mean, I just got up a while ago and I felt like practising a little. As you very well know, there's still a threat -----"

"You could have gone to another room to practise this. The common room is no place to do it" she interrupted.

Some nearby students dared to glance sideways at the verbal exchange, but as soon as Hermione gave them a look of pure loathing they all decided it was best to go on as if nothing was happening.

Harry shrugged and sighed in defeat. Arguments with Hermione were never won by his side of the fence, and many times the best thing to do was just to prevent the fire from spreading. "Alright, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this _here_, at _this time_." He put his hands up in the air, a visible sign of surrender.

This made Hermione ease a little. She mentioned him to follow her, and both sat on a comfy couch by the fire.

"I don't want you to do this again. McGonagall would kill me if she knew about it" she told him, now in a calm tone. This, more than everything, calmed Harry down.

Taking hold of her hand, he promised her never to do that, ever again.

"Honestly, the Weasley twins?" she said, a smile starting to play across her lips. "Even you could come up with a better excuse." She let her head fall on top of his shoulder and closed her eyes as he snaked his arm aroud her, the Hannah incident long forgotten.

* * *

Breakfast the next morning was going as usual. 

That is, until Ron brought up an uncomfortable topic of conversation.

"So, Fred and George decided to show up yesterday?" he asked, amused.

Harry shot a dirty look at Hermione, who just shrugged and smiled.

"I had to tell him" she explained.

"It just came out, okay? I didn't mean to say that" Harry said, grabbing his cup for a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Talking about showing up, you know we saw Hannah Abbot yesterday?"

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice, and had to cough for a few seconds to let all the droplets of liquid fall down the right tube.

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked, slapping his friend's back.

Harry took a deep breath. For reasons he knew too well he found it impossible to look Hermione in the eye, so he decided to turn to Ron.

"Hannah, you say?" he asked, trying his best to look as if he had mild, innocent interest in the topic.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention that yesterday" said Hermione, as if she had been awoken from a long dream. "We saw Hannah Abbot."

Harry tried to hide his nervousness but, to make things worse, his face turned to his girlfriend against his own will, as if responding to a wrong impulse.

He gulped. What if they had found out? _No, my plan was perfect! Don't go with their bluff._

"And what's so special about Hannah Abbot?" he asked, trying to make his voice as natural as possible.

At that exact moment Hannah sat down with her fellow Hufflepuffs. As easy as it seemed, though, Harry didn't resist the urge to at least look at her, but quickly shot his eyes back at his girlfriend before she could realize who it was he was looking at. Irony, it seemed, always had a wicked sense of humour and a perfect sense of timing.

"She was walking down the stairs… the ones that connect our Tower to the Great Hall" answered Hermione with the glint in her eyes that meant she was definitely on to something. "It's not usual having a Hufflepuff on _our_ stairs."

"Maybe she got lost?" Harry tried.

"Ron suggested that too." Hermione shook her head slightly, not taking her eyes from her boyfriend. "But I don't think so. She was up to something…"

"Your girlfriend thinks too much, you know? I say she's becoming bloody neurotic" Ron told Harry, shaking his head in disbelief. His remark made Hermione huff at him indignantly. "She sees conspiracy everywhere!"

"Yeah" Harry said, laughing slightly. "What would Hannah Abbot want from me anyway?"


End file.
